European Union: Constitutions

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he had with his Polish counterpart during the recent conference in Brussels to discuss the new EU constitutional treaty.

Kim Howells: My right hon. Friend the former Foreign Secretary (Margaret Beckett) had discussions with counterparts from a number of EU partners during the European Council in Brussels, including the Polish Foreign Minister.

Saudi Arabia: Foreign Relations

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent discussions he has had with his Saudi Arabian counterpart on the future of Anglo-Saudi relations.

Kim Howells: My right hon. Friend the former Foreign Secretary (Margaret Beckett) met with His Royal Highness Prince Saud Al Faisal at the Lebanon Donor Conference in January and at the Iraq Compact Group in May. Their discussions concerned the continuing close UK/Saudi bilateral relationship, as well as other key regional issues.

Somalia: Peace Keeping Operations

Geoffrey Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations he has made to the Government of India on that country's role in peacekeeping in Somalia.

Kim Howells: My right hon. Friend the former Foreign Secretary (Margaret Beckett) did not made any representations to the Government of India on that country's role in peacekeeping in Somalia.

Vietnam: Oppression

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent representations she has made to the government of Vietnam on the persecution of Christians in that country, with particular reference to  (a) Nguyen Van Dai and Le Thi Cong Nhan,  (b) Father Thaddeus Nguyen Van Ly and  (c) the Hmong people; and if she will make a statement.

Kim Howells: We, along with our EU partners have made numerous representations to the Vietnamese government on the arrest and sentencing of Lawyers Nguyen Van Dai, Le Thi Cong Nhan and Father Nguyen Van Ly.
	Most recently, on 15 May, the EU issued a statement expressing its concern about the recent arrests and calling on the Vietnamese government to release all non-violent political activists who have exercised their rights to freedom of expression and association.
	My right hon. Friend the then Minister for Trade, Investment and Foreign Affairs (Mr. Ian McCartney) raised human rights issues at a meeting with Vietnamese Vice Minister Le Cung Phung during the EU/Association of South East Asian Nations Foreign Ministers Meeting on 14 and 15 March and again with the Vietnamese Ambassador on 10 May.
	We continue to monitor the situation of ethnic minorities in Vietnam, including the Hmong people, through regular field missions. EU officials, including the UK, raise our concerns about religious freedoms and restrictions with the Vietnamese on a regular basis. Most recently during the EU/Vietnam human rights dialogue on 28 June.

Departments: Training

Oliver Heald: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how much his Department spent on away days located outside his Department's buildings in the last 12 months for which figures are available.

Edward Miliband: It is not possible to readily identify from the Department's accounting system, how much the Cabinet Office spent on away days located outside the Department's buildings. This information is available only at disproportionate cost.
	All Cabinet Office expenditure on away days is made in accordance with published departmental guidance on financial procedures and propriety, based on principles set out in Government Accounting and other HM Treasury guidance.

Ordnance Survey: Copyright

Angus MacNeil: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what assessment she has made of the merits of requiring the Ordnance Survey to make licensable or copyright material available to schools and other public educational establishments free of charge; and if she will make a statement.

Hazel Blears: holding answer 29 June 2007
	In its role as the national mapping agency of Great Britain, Ordnance Survey places great importance on supporting education and learning at all levels, and in responding to its unique position as the only organisation whose products are specifically identified for study within the national curricula.
	In addition to the well publicised "Free Maps for 11-Year-Olds" scheme, Ordnance Survey offers a wide range of other opportunities for schools and other public educational establishments to access its licensable and copyright material, much of it free of charge.
	Under the "Free Maps for 11-Year-Olds" initiative Ordnance Survey has provided over 3.8 million OS explorer maps free to primary seven pupils in Scotland and year seven pupils in rest of Great Britain through their schools, with a further distribution planned for autumn 2007. All 11-year-old pupils are eligible regardless of the school they attend.
	Ordnance Survey provides an educational copyright licence to any school, college or university wishing to copy Ordnance Survey paper mapping or use Ordnance Survey digital map data for educational, research or teaching purposes. The licence is available free to schools for students up to 16-years-old. In addition, individual students may obtain copies of extracts of in-copyright Ordnance Survey mapping from libraries under the terms of exceptions to the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, for their private study, research, criticism or review purposes.
	Digital map data is also freely available to LEA-funded schools from their parent local authority under the terms of the Local Authority Mapping Services Agreement. In order to ensure that LEA schools are technically able to access this data, Ordnance Survey has been working closely with the British Education Communications Technology Agency (Becta) to trial an on-line mechanism for the delivery of map data to schools and their suppliers. The 18 month 'MapPilot' project will report in summer 2008.
	To further support the educational use of geographic information within schools Ordnance Survey operates a specialist on-line service within its web site. 'MapZone' is an award-winning free resource for school use, available 24 x 7 for teachers and pupils. It contains all the map reading skills required within the national curricula. The latest mapping is also available free of charge to schools and pupils (and the public) through the Ordnance Survey on-line 'Get-a-Map' service from which extracts may be downloaded or printed for a wide range of personal or learning uses.
	Ordnance Survey supports teacher training by supplying all tutors of Post Graduate Certificate of Education geography courses across Great Britain with free OS Explorer and OS Landranger maps to aid with training of secondary school teachers. Through sponsorship arrangements with the Royal Geographical Society (RGS) and the teachers' professional body. The Geography Association (GA), Ordnance Survey also supports the provision of free geography teaching materials and teacher in service training (INSET).
	Further and higher education needs are served through a collective purchasing agreement between Ordnance Survey and the Higher Education Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC). A basket of Ordnance Survey digital mapping products is available for use for teaching and non-commercial research use within higher and further education establishments—each establishment pays a single annual subscription for all agreed use by staff and students.
	The value of providing further services for free is continually held under review. The Government published their response to an independent review by Ed Mayo and Tom Steinberg, "The Power of Information" on 25 June 2007. This made clear that Ordnance Survey will look very seriously at launching Open Space, a project which would allow non-commercial experimentation with mapping data.

Theft: Bicycles

Alistair Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many bicycle thefts were recorded in  (a) England and Wales and  (b) London in each of the last five years.

Tony McNulty: The available data is given in the following table. The data relates to offences of theft of a pedal cycle recorded by the police in the London Region and in England and Wales as a whole. Statistics for Scotland and Northern Ireland are a matter for the respective Secretaries of State.
	
		
			  Offences of theft of a pedal cycle recorded by the police 
			  Number of offences 
			   2001-02 ( 1) 2002-03  2003-04  2004-05  2005-06 
			 London Region (2) 14,674 16,239 19,616 19,636 21,574 
			 England and Wales 102,713 97,755 105,467 106,064 113,206 
			 (1) British Transport police data has been included in the England and Wales totals from 2002-03. (2) includes the Metropolitan police and the City of London.

Immigration

Keith Vaz: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what change there has been in  (a) the proportion of immigrants arriving in the UK from the European Union since 1 May 2003 and  (b) the countries of origin of those immigrants.

Angela Eagle: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician who has been asked to reply.
	 Letter from Dennis Roberts, dated 2 July 2007:
	The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question concerning (a) the proportion of immigrants arriving from the European Union since 1st May 2003 and (b) the countries of origin of those immigrants. 1 am replying in her absence. (146104)
	The requested information is only available for calendar years by country of last residence. The latest figures are for 2005.
	Estimates for the European Union as a whole are routinely published based on Total International Migration, the most comprehensive measure of international migration into the UK. Figures requested are given in Table 1. Estimates by individual EU country of last residence are only available using International Passenger Survey (IPS) data. These figures are given in Table 2.
	
		
			  Table 1: Total international migration( 1)  to the UK by country of last residence( 2) , 2003 to 2005: United Kingdom 
			  Thousands 
			   All countries  European Union 15( 3)  European Union A8( 3)  European Union 25( 3)  Non-EU( 4) 
			Estimate   Percentage of all migrants  Estimate   Percentage of all migrants  Estimate   Percentage of all migrants  Estimate   Percentage of total 
			  Inflow  
			 2003 513 101 20 (5)— (5)— (5)— (5)— 411 80 
			 2004 582 83 14 53 9 139 24 443 76 
			 2005 565 95 17 81 14 180 32 385 68 
			 (1 )Estimates of total international migration (TIM) are compiled using the following sources of migration data: International Passenger Survey (IPS) data on migrants and visitors; Home Office data on asylum seekers and their dependants; and estimates of migration between the UK and the Irish Republic from the Irish Central Statistics Office. An international migrant is defined as someone who changes their country of residence for at least a year so that the country of destination effectively becomes the country of usual residence. (2 )Estimates by country of last residence can include migrants of any citizenship. Therefore British citizens previously resident in another EU country and returning to the UK will be included in these estimates. (3 )For 2003, EU estimates are shown only for the EU15 (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, the Irish Republic, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Sweden). From 2004, the estimates are also shown for A8 (the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia) and the EU25 (i.e. the EU15 and A8 groups, plus Malta and Cyprus), These splits are necessary because TIM estimates are not available for the post accession groupings before 2004. (4 )For 2003, non-EU includes all the countries that acceded to the EU on 1 May 2004. (5 )Not applicable.  Source:  International Migration MN No.32, 2005, Table 2.2 
		
	
	
		
			  Table 2: migration to the UK from the EU by country of last residence( 1) , 2003 to 2005 (IPS only( 2) ): United Kingdom 
			  Thousands 
			  Country of last residence  2003( 3)  2004( 3)  2005( 3) 
			 France 27 15 13 
			 Germany 15 16 27 
			 Spain 15 13 14 
			 Poland (4)— 17 52 
			 Other EU 35 66 54 
			 Total EU(3) 92 127 159 
			 (1) Estimates by country of last residence can include migrants of any citizenship. In particular, British citizens previously resident in another EU country and returning to the UK will be included in these estimates. (2 )The International Passenger Survey (IPS) excludes most asylum seekers, flows between the UK and the Irish Republic, and adjustments for 'switchers' (i.e. people whose migration intentions are not realised). (3 )For 2003, total EU figures are for EU15 and for 2004 and 2005 are for EU25. (4 )Not applicable  Source:  International Passenger Survey

Navy: Military Bases

Linda Gilroy: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Defence on his commitment to move civil service jobs out of the South East, with particular reference to the Naval Base Review.

Andy Burnham: The Chancellor regularly has meetings and discussions with Cabinet colleagues including the Secretary of State for Defence, and discusses a wide range of issues. As was the practice of previous administrations, the Government do not disclose details of all such discussions.

Public Sector: Standards

Frank Field: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list all the current public service agreement targets.

Angela Eagle: I refer the hon. Gentleman to the command paper '2004 Spending Review: Public Service Agreements 2005-2008' (Cm 6238) which lists the public service agreements and targets for the current spending period.
	The HM Treasury public spending performance website also includes links to the technical notes for each PSA:
	http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/documents/public_spending_reporting/public_service_performance/psr_performance_efficiency_supporting_documents.cfm.

Employers' Contributions

Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what plans he has to enforce the automatic enrolment of employers and making appropriate contributions by employers in respect of personal accounts; and if he will make a statement.

Mike O'Brien: The Government propose a three-stage compliance strategy. We will educate employers and employees about their new rights and responsibilities. We will engage with employers, enabling to comply. Where necessary, we will take proportionate enforcement action, through a graduated approach with increasing penalties.
	We are continuing to work with the relevant stakeholders in developing our enforcement strategy further.

Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what restrictions there will be on  (a) deduction orders and  (b) lump sum deduction orders under the new Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission.

James Plaskitt: Deduction orders will only be used if a person has failed to pay their statutory maintenance liabilities. They will not be applied to joint accounts or business accounts and may not directly cause a person's account to become overdrawn.
	With current accounts deduction orders the Commission will require the deposit taker to deduct a regular amount from a non-resident parent's account to recover ongoing statutory maintenance liabilities and/or arrears. The amount will be based on the non-resident parent's gross earnings and a proportion of those earnings, to be specified in regulations, will be protected. These orders will not normally be used in a case where a deduction from earnings order can be imposed and non-resident parents will be encouraged to convert the deduction into a direct debit or other means of payment which they find more convenient.
	Lump sum deduction orders will only be used to recover arrears.

Children: Maintenance

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the impact on poverty levels of non-resident parents on benefits of setting a £7 minimum child maintenance deduction from benefits; and if he will make a statement.

James Plaskitt: It is not possible to accurately model the effect of increasing the £5 flat rate payment to £7 on the number of non resident parents in poverty. This is because we cannot identify with certainty which non resident parents are currently paying flat rate maintenance from the survey we use to measure poverty, the family resources survey.

Children: Maintenance

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the evidential basis is for the Department's view that, for child maintenance collection, historic tax income information is close enough to the current financial position of most non-resident parents at the time to be an acceptable and robust basis for assessment.

James Plaskitt: Our analysis showed that two thirds of non resident parents subject to the 2003 CSA scheme would have a liability within £10 of that assessment if it were based on HMRC gross income data.

Afghanistan: Reconstruction

Theresa May: To ask the Prime Minister what recent representations he has received from military commanders on the allocation of additional funds to the reconstruction of Afghanistan.

Gordon Brown: I have received no such representations, but I have been briefed by military commanders on the situation in Afghanistan, in particular the Southern Region and Helmand Province where the majority of UK forces are deployed. The briefing covered the progress that has been made and the challenges that remain, covering security, security sector reform, and reconstruction.

Departments: Pay

Theresa May: To ask the Prime Minister how many bonuses were awarded to senior civil servants working in his Office in each year between 1997 and 2006; and at what total cost.

Gordon Brown: For these purposes my Office forms part of the Cabinet Office. I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to him by my right hon. Friend the Minister for the Cabinet Office (Edward Miliband) today.